Millions of video cameras and computer and photo devices that record video are sold worldwide each year in both the professional and consumer markets. Those cameras and devices are used to record an untold amount of video each year. Editing the video is one of the most important steps in transforming the recorded raw visuals into valuable, concise, engaging, and/or coherent content.
Corporations and other organizations spend significant time and resources to create videos used, for example, to market the company or its products, or to recruit potential hires for employment opportunities. The videos may include, for example, footage of employees engaged in work at the company, interviews of employees describing their experience at the company, or products the company offers for sale.
In the professional video-production market, billions of dollars, significant time, and other resources are spent editing video—taking raw footage shot with video cameras and devices, loading it into video editing software platforms, reviewing the footage to find the most compelling portions, and assembling the compelling portions in a fashion that communicates or illustrates the requisite message or story in a focused, engaging way. The editing process may also include adding professional footage transitions, soundtrack layers, and effects to enhance the video. But considering the time, money, and expertise often invested to edit video to a professional level or compelling presentation level, the video editing process can be a daunting task for the average consumer. Even for the video editing professional, it is not uncommon for a high quality video production workflow to take 30 times longer than the finished video time. For example, a finished two-minute video can take 75 minutes to edit using traditional video editing software. Beyond the significant time investment, the average consumer does not have the necessary technical skill required to proficiently use video editing software, or the advanced shot sequencing, enhancing, and combining expertise acquired by professional producers at great cost.
For these reasons, the average consumer typically does not have the resources to transform the raw footage he or she films into professional grade video presentations. Creating documentary-grade video stories, complete with narration and overlaid support footage, and edited into concise presentations, is out of reach for most people. Consumers often instead settle for overly long collections of un-edited, aimless video clips that are dull to watch due to their rambling nature, at best using consumer software to add color or visual overlays to dress up the video footage. In the alternative, when consumers hire professional video editors for events such as weddings, birthdays, or family sports events, they typically must spend significant funds to do so.
Video can also be used as part of a company's direct sales plan. Most salespersons deliver messages in analogue ways, for example in conversations at customer offices or by phone. Because of the inherent variability in message delivery by each salesperson and the lack of feedback to measure delivery, when a company develops a preferred message for salespersons to deliver, it is often difficult to determine if, in fact, the salespersons are delivering the proper messages, and whether the messages are viewed by customers.
Each salesperson may individually record an audio or video presentation based on messages provided by the company, and deliver the message to each of the salesperson's customers or clients. But choosing an effective and compelling message, especially when selling products, is critical for success. And measuring the effectiveness of presentations can be difficult.
There is a need for methods and apparatuses that are easy to use, configure, and/or adapt to facilitate, transform, and automate the process of creating, enhancing, and editing videos. Such methods and apparatuses would increase the effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction by producing polished, enhanced video content, thereby opening up the proven, powerful communication and documentation power of professionally edited video to a much wider group of business and personal applications. There is also a need for methods and systems to measure whether certain audio or video messages are delivered, and the extent to which those messages are played by the intended audience.